erhobenvsertönenTell them apart

Which to use

“erhoben” and “ertönen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,243
“erhoben” frequency rank
#40,516
“ertönen” frequency rank
43759
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erhoben ertönen
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs erheben als Ton, Klang wahrnehmbar werden

Where the eye mixes erhoben and ertönen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. erhoben and ertönen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
erhoben
7 ch
ertönen

Look-alike desk: erhoben vs ertönen

A purely visual mix-up. erhoben ([ɛɐ̯ˈhoːbn̩]) and ertönen ([ɛɐ̯ˈtøːnən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43759, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erhoben is recorded at frequency rank #3,243, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhoːbn̩]. ertönen is at rank #40,516, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈtøːnən].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 43759, this pair ranks #1,407,857 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of erhoben vs ertönen

Shared letters: enr. Private to "erhoben": bho. Private to "ertönen": .

"erhoben" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "ertönen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erhobenehroben · erhboen · erhhoben · erhobben · erhobenn · erhobne · erhoebn · erohben

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erhoben" for "ertönen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈhoːbn̩] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈtøːnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "erhoben" vs "ertönen" - which ranks higher?
"erhoben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,243 in our German list, against #40,516 for "ertönen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erhoben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ertönen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,407,857 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erhoben" and "ertönen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ertönen vs ertönte". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,407,857 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list